New to towing a 5th wheel, in fact this was only the second time I've pulled our trailer ('05 Keystone 28FRLS). On the first trip (empty), which was from the dealer to our home I was quite impressed how smoothly it handled. This weekend we loaded up (fresh water tank too) and headed out. At every stop sign or traffic light just as we were about stopped it seemed the 5er moved forward with a loud clunk and backwards when I pulled away from the intersection. It was somewhat disturbing and I pulled into a parking lot to check that nothing was coming apart. Although I'm not sure what I should have been looking for everything seemed tight and not moving (when hitch was installed, paint dots were used to mark installation positions). The hitch is a Reese 30084 slider and vehicle specific brackets were used for mounting it. Only thing that changed between the two trips were the load in the trailer and the hitch height was raised 1" to get sufficient clearance between the box sides and trailer. Truck and trailer both were sitting level when hitched together. Anyone have any idea what I should look for or is this just something I will have to get used to?

Is the slider locked in place? Or is it sliding when you start and stop?

Loose hitch head. Mine has an adjustment bolt that takes the slop oit of the connection between jaws and pin.

With trailer unhooked, see if you can push/pull the hitch head forward and back. A small fraction off an inch movement can make a large "clank" when 12-15,000 lbs is pushing or pulling on it. Some hitches have a bolt/nut that you can tighten to take the slop out. My Reese Elite has a solid welded shaft. I bought a thin round plastic electric J box cover, drilled a hole in the center the size of the shaft, cut out one side slightly so it looked like a C, and pushed that down on the shaft to form a shim to fill the gap. No more clanking and clunking.

donn0128 wrote:Loose hitch head. Mine has an adjustment bolt that takes the slop oit of the connection between jaws and pin.X2

I experienced the same problem, but only when it was raining??Never did figure out why. Everything seemed tight and good.

5th Wheel Makes Loud Clunking at Stops and Starts

wnjj
Explorer II
May 16, 2017
Durb wrote:
skyking897 wrote:
Had a chance to do some investigating yesterday, had the wife hold the trailer brakes on and try moving the truck forwards and reverse while I watched for movement. Did not really see anything in the pin to hitch area. Will be unhooking and checking for play in the hitch to rails. Was mentioned earlier about adjusting brake controller. Am I wanting a more aggressive trailer braking?

The brake controller will not contribute to noise when you take off as it is not in use.

More aggressive brakes could keep the slack pulled toward the rear which may well quiet take off noise. It can't hurt to try. If there's no clunk when stopping there can't be a complimentary one when taking back off.
thomas201
Explorer
May 16, 2017
If you are sure everything is proper, then you can take the do nothing and ignore it option. I just have a "bar" 5th wheel, no jaws. Simple, almost impossible to break, no parts to wear in my lifetime. Some clunking is to be expected.

However, I only drove tractor trailers before the camper, and commonly had partial loads in tube trailers. So, I sometimes had a lively ride while sitting at a stoplight. Your taste my not accept what I take for granted.
goducks10
Explorer
May 16, 2017
I put some bike inner tube pads between the hitch and rails. Took all the stop and go clanking out.
Durb
Explorer
May 16, 2017
skyking897 wrote:
Had a chance to do some investigating yesterday, had the wife hold the trailer brakes on and try moving the truck forwards and reverse while I watched for movement. Did not really see anything in the pin to hitch area. Will be unhooking and checking for play in the hitch to rails. Was mentioned earlier about adjusting brake controller. Am I wanting a more aggressive trailer braking?

The brake controller will not contribute to noise when you take off as it is not in use. The pins that hold the hitch to the rails have some slop in them by design so that users can get them in and out without using a punch and a hammer. Your initial tow might have worn some paint off the rails and hitch tabs which was just enough to cause your hitch to lift to the pins and then drop back to the rails making noise. Also, raising your hitch head will create more leverage causing your hitch to raise off the rails only to be stopped by the pins. Remove a couple of the the pin clips and see if you can easily remove the pin by hand and if there is any looseness. If yes, probably your problem

Some hitches had loose attachment systems to the kingpin and were noisy by design. These would have made noise at the outset. It looks like your hitch has a good jaw system. Good luck, I hope your solution is as easy as the isolation pads that cured mine.
skyking897
Explorer
May 16, 2017
Had a chance to do some investigating yesterday, had the wife hold the trailer brakes on and try moving the truck forwards and reverse while I watched for movement. Did not really see anything in the pin to hitch area. Will be unhooking and checking for play in the hitch to rails. Was mentioned earlier about adjusting brake controller. Am I wanting a more aggressive trailer braking?
RCMAN46
Explorer
May 15, 2017

I had a similiar problem with my Reese. The head will move forward and back about 1/8 of an inch on the lateral pivot pin that can bee seen above and to the left of the R in Reese logo.

If you look at my picture you can see where I inserted a couple 1/8 inch heavy duty nylon sheets that are held in place by the two
1/4 inch bolts you can see.

I put the sheets toward the front so that there was no pressure on them while under way and trailer pulling the hitch head to the back of the hitch.
donn0128
Explorer II
May 15, 2017
skyking897 wrote:
donn0128 wrote:
Loose hitch head. Mine has an adjustment bolt that takes the slop oit of the connection between jaws and pin.

This would make sense but don't remember reading anything about doing this in my manual. Where would I find that bolt?

On my hitch it is on the cab side near the top and directly in front of the lock jaws. You hitch may or may not have an adjustment bolt. If your not sure, go to your hitch mfgs web site and download the manual, or call them and ask.
Durb
Explorer
May 15, 2017
filrupmark wrote:
Check to see if you have slack between your hitch and your rails . If so Curt makes rubber damper pads that install between the hitch and rails. It is amazing how much noise just 1/8" of slack can make.

Dittos to this. I had the same problem that developed after a number of tows and things got settled in. They are cheap and easy to install. If I recall I looked them up on the Curt website then used the part number to search Amazon. They solved my problem. On my hitch they wear quickly and I have to flip them after the first year so 2 year max.

Search Curt 16900 on Amazon.
filrupmark
Explorer
May 15, 2017
Check to see if you have slack between your hitch and your rails . If so Curt makes rubber damper pads that install between the hitch and rails. It is amazing how much noise just 1/8" of slack can make.
NMDriver
Explorer
May 15, 2017
Brake adjustment is needed to keep the trailer from pushing on the truck when you stop. The hitch pin pushes forward when you stop due to the brakes on the trailer not stopping the trailer with or before the truck stops. Instead of staying seated against back of the jaw or bar the pin moves to the front of the hitch pocket making the clunk when you stop. Then when you start it moves back to the jaws or bar and makes another clunk as you pull forward.

Reducing the slop in the hitch pocket will help but a properly adjusted brake controller saves the truck brakes and is how the system is suppose to work.

Forum Discussion

5th Wheel Makes Loud Clunking at Stops and Starts

About RV Tips & Tricks

Related Content

Starting Issue

Reese Pro Series 20K "clunk"

Rough start

Engine starting issues

Starting problems